1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 This is Gene Larsen, News Director of Radio City KGSW in Karni, Alaska. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:16,000 Right at the present time on this Tuesday evening, November the 5th, 1957, we are at our studio at the time in Central Standard Time, 720. 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:22,000 At our side at microphone, we have Mr. Reinhold O. Schmidt. 4 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:36,000 That's Reinhold O. Schmidt, S-C-H-M-I-D-T. Mr. Schmidt has stated that his home address is Malinga, in Bakerville, California, is 715 Gates Street, and that he is employed by Value Pack Incorporated. 5 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:46,000 There in the hotel, K-Seed and Grain Concentrate, there are offices as 501 West Main Street as a brawling California. That's B-R-A-W-L-E-Y. 6 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:56,000 Mr. Schmidt, this afternoon I believe you had something occur to you, and you've talked a little bit about it. We would like to ask you a series of questions. 7 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,000 The information that I have given so far, Mr. Schmidt, is that correct? 8 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Yes. In other words, you work for Value Pack Incorporated, you live in Bakerville, you are in Karni, Nebraska, for what's this for? 9 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:08,000 Buying grain. 10 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:10,000 And is this your first test of Karni? 11 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:11,000 Yes. 12 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:21,000 By buying grain, what do you mean, sir? Buying from the farmers or elevators, and you travel around the country, set it there, and you drive what kind of cars there? 13 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:25,000 What's your fixed price for the 55th district? 14 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:30,000 Now this afternoon I believe you asked South of town, South of Karni, about how far is there? 15 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,000 Home to about four miles. 16 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:38,000 About what time was this? It was between two in the afternoon, and you were headed in which direction, sir? 17 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:49,000 I was going to South and then Karni, east on the North Highway, and you were up on the cement road, on this Newark Road, for about how long at the time? I mean, mileage-wise. 18 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,000 Or is it about a mile? 19 00:01:51,000 --> 00:02:00,000 About a mile. And then noticed something in the Platte River bed, am I right? It was dry. There was a flash there, what I first noticed, flashed. 20 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:09,000 And that was how far from the road there. But I would say a half a mile. A half a mile from the road at the present time at the time. 21 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,000 Did you continue to drive or did you immediately stop? 22 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:22,000 No, I drove on up a little closer to where the flash was to see what caused that, and when I got closer I found out I thought the balloon had crashed there. 23 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,000 You thought it was a balloon that had crashed? 24 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,000 Yes. 25 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,000 And then you'd laid closer to the object? 26 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:28,000 Yes. 27 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:29,000 And then what occurred? 28 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:38,000 I got within 60 feet of the object, my car stopped. The motor went dead, the motor went dead. I tried to step out of it, but there was no response whatsoever. 29 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,000 Then what did you do, Mr. Smith? 30 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,000 I got out of the car, I figured maybe the terminal had just spoken to me from the battery. 31 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:57,000 I got out of the car and walked towards the balloon, what I thought was the balloon, and when I got within 30 feet of it, a light shot out, and I would say it's paralyzed there. 32 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,000 There is a paralyzed there, or else it's a hit the passion. In a way, it couldn't move. 33 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,000 It couldn't move? 34 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Could you think? 35 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:05,000 Yes, I could think. 36 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:06,000 It could think. 37 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:07,000 I couldn't move. 38 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,000 I see. 39 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:15,000 Before we go into further happenstance with this object, I wonder if you could describe it for me, about how long was it, sir? 40 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:24,000 It was about 100 feet long, as we expect off there, about 100 feet long and 30 feet wide, and now it doesn't look 10 feet high. 41 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:26,000 What did it appear to be made out of? 42 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,000 A real bright, bright aluminum. 43 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:34,000 Now this was in the river bed of the Pot River, which is dry, because it's sandy there. 44 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,000 And it appeared to be of aluminum. It was bright and shiny. 45 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,000 And you got out and you approached this object. 46 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Yeah, and you described it. Did you notice anything as to how it would be moved? 47 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Did there appear to be pipes, little propellers, or what was it, sir? 48 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:57,000 On each end of the machine, there was a tube running up and down, and then these tubes were there, as I can see, with big fans. 49 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,000 And one, see, like that, done the propeller. 50 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,000 How close did you get to this box there? 51 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,000 I ain't got two at an end. 52 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:11,000 I understand that, sir, but before you got into it, you got out of your car, went across the field toward the river bed. 53 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:15,000 How far did you get toward the object before you noticed anybody? 54 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:16,000 Oh, about 30 feet. 55 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,000 About 30 feet, and then what occurred? 56 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:24,000 That's when that light shot off, and paralyzed as far as you know. Then what occurred, sir? 57 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Two men came up and they said, it must be alarmed that they had to search me. How did they come out of the side? 58 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,000 Yes, out of the side of the machine. 59 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:35,000 And were there steps down to the ground, or did they? 60 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:40,000 Yeah, there was a sliding door and then the steps. 61 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,000 I see. And they came out and they spoke to you in English? 62 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,000 Yes. How were they dressed? 63 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,000 They were dressed like any American would be. 64 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,000 In business suit? 65 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:50,000 In business suit, yes. 66 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,000 I see. Did they appear to be young or middle-aged? 67 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,000 They were middle-aged. I would say between 40 and 40. 68 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,000 And they spoke good English? 69 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:01,000 Yes. No, they spoke of broken English. 70 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,000 What did they say to you? 71 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:08,000 They told me not to be alarmed if they were not going to hurt me. 72 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:10,000 And they did want to search me. 73 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 I told them I had no weapons. 74 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:18,000 And I asked them what the deal was, or what the object was. 75 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:23,000 And they said, well, as long as we can, bleed for a few minutes, just walk them in and look around. 76 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:25,000 So you went up the steps with them? 77 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:27,000 Yes. You entered the object? 78 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,000 Yes. You entered the object? 79 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,000 Did you sense anything by way of smell? 80 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,000 It was out of the ordinary? 81 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:33,000 Not at all. 82 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:34,000 Not at all? 83 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,000 Were there any other people in this object? 84 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Yes. There were four men and two women. 85 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,000 What age did they appear to be? 86 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:44,000 They appeared to be around 40. 87 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,000 Were they talking when you entered? 88 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:48,000 They just spoke to me. That's all. 89 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:49,000 What did they say? 90 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:50,000 They just said hello. 91 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:51,000 In what language? 92 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,000 In American language. 93 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:53,000 In American language? 94 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:54,000 They said hello. 95 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:55,000 And you answered them? 96 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:56,000 Yes. 97 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,000 And what did you felt once you got inside of this object? 98 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:07,000 Well, there was just a lot of instruments and wires, and it seemed like they were working on these washpits for some reason. 99 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:15,000 And the girls were at another instrument there with a lot of files and push buttons. 100 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:21,000 After they said hello to you, these women and these other men, or were there no other men? 101 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,000 There were two men in there. 102 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,000 There were four men and two women. 103 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:29,000 All right, then one of them more than likely sort of stayed by you, one man all the time, by you. 104 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:30,000 Yes. 105 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,000 And he was the one that talked to you, perhaps? 106 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:33,000 Yes. 107 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:38,000 Then the other two women and other two three men, what about their business today? 108 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,000 Did they appear to be interested in you? 109 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:42,000 Did they talk to you? 110 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:43,000 Hello. 111 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:44,000 Did they talk among themselves? 112 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Yes. 113 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,000 In what language did they talk? 114 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,000 They were talking in a high German, as much as whatever I could. 115 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,000 The professor was saying about 100 feet long of that thing. 116 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,000 And they were talking in a high German every time I could hear him. 117 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,000 Are you qualified to know high German, Mr. Schmidt? 118 00:06:58,000 --> 00:06:59,000 Yes. 119 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,000 You've had schooling in it, or your parents each in one place and another? 120 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,000 I think. 121 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:05,000 And they didn't appear to be interested in you personally? 122 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:06,000 No. 123 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:07,000 After they said hello. 124 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,000 Now, you were in for the object about how long, Mr. Schmidt? 125 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,000 I was in an object where I would say 30 minutes. 126 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:15,000 30 minutes. 127 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,000 What did you do while you were in there? 128 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,000 I was just talking to this man. 129 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:21,000 Although he didn't explain anything to me. 130 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,000 Did you ask him questions? 131 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:24,000 Yes. 132 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,000 I asked him more about what they were doing. 133 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:32,000 He said, well, he couldn't tell me that, but in the near future we might all know he did. 134 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,000 You might all know in the near future. 135 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,000 Tell my people that they meant no harm. 136 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:38,000 They meant no harm. 137 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:40,000 It's a statement he made. 138 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:41,000 Yes. 139 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:43,000 And you were in there for approximately 30 minutes. 140 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,000 And then did something occur that would indicate to you that perhaps the machinery was repaired? 141 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:48,000 Yes. 142 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:53,000 They said that if one man was working on one end, he said they would. 143 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,000 He read his tape off. 144 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,000 In the German language? 145 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,000 In the German language. 146 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:58,000 And you recognized him? 147 00:07:58,000 --> 00:07:59,000 Yes. 148 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:00,000 In Wilheide, Germany? 149 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,000 Yes. 150 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:05,000 And then, as it told me in the American language, they would read his tape off. 151 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:06,000 And I would have to leave. 152 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,000 I went out of this machine, and the water flow was just a lot. 153 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,000 I went up and I would have, I stepped back. 154 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:13,000 I would say about 10 feet. 155 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,000 They didn't tell me enough to watch from anything. 156 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,000 I stepped back about 10 feet. 157 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,000 Then the machine started going wide. 158 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,000 I would step back a little farther. 159 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,000 And then I walked through the leaves. 160 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,000 How did they leave? 161 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,000 It went straight up in the air. 162 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:28,000 Straight up in the air? 163 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:29,000 Yes. 164 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:30,000 Slowly? 165 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:34,000 Slowly at first, then it gained speed until about 100 feet. 166 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:36,000 200 feet up there. 167 00:08:36,000 --> 00:08:41,000 It seemed like there was a flash there, and it disappeared. 168 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:46,000 Now, you see any object of this size, 150 feet in the air? 169 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:47,000 Oh, yes. 170 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:48,000 But this one disappeared. 171 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:49,000 It disappeared. 172 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:50,000 It changed colors. 173 00:08:50,000 --> 00:08:55,000 Did they have any instructions to you after you left? 174 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,000 Did they tell you not to do something or do something? 175 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:04,000 I mean, what were they, did they send it to you after, with regards to starting your automobile, let's say? 176 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000 Oh, they told me not to, when I left there, they said, 177 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,000 Don't prime start the automobile, they have proof of it, it won't start in a way. 178 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,000 I see. 179 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:13,000 Any kind of smile. 180 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,000 That's for sure that they had sent some to the Alamon. 181 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:19,000 Did you personally feel that they were friendly towards you? 182 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:20,000 Yes, very friendly. 183 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:21,000 Very friendly. 184 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,000 But disinterested in you as a person? 185 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:24,000 Yes. 186 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:25,000 I see. 187 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:27,000 Let me ask you this now, Mr. Schmidt. 188 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:32,000 You were with them or near their objects, and with them for about how long on the time? 189 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:38,000 I would say about three years. 190 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:43,000 Let me ask you this, why were you there? 191 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,000 Not that far away, so much until I came to the event. 192 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,000 I heard you. 193 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:49,000 Yes, yes. 194 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:54,000 I think I probably did a balloon up with a crash. 195 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:59,000 You came to the talk to the Buffalo County Sheriff, Lloyd Frank, with that right, 196 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:02,000 and then what happened? 197 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:10,000 The chance of my property went out there, and the news came in, so something was, had been there. 198 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:19,000 We come back to the same marriage, and the truth is great, that's the best thing else can say. 199 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,000 I'll have you return to the team now. 200 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:29,000 And were there any evidence, were there any evidence left after seeing what would indicate that this happened? 201 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:30,000 Yes, yes. 202 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,000 I think it was. 203 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:40,000 I thought we should have some leaves that had some, we thought it was oil or hydrodic oil, we don't know. 204 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:42,000 It had a shooter smell to it. 205 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:44,000 It identified it's own, and no. 206 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,000 It's very confusing. 207 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:47,000 Yes, it's a greenish color. 208 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,000 Were there marks in the ground? 209 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:54,000 It seemed like this one, we could see where this one had got it. 210 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,000 Yes, that's the ground. 211 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:58,000 I see. 212 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:01,000 Were there footprints where these men had walked? 213 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:07,000 Well, it's a sandy yet, there was a little bit of an event there, and you explained to them what had happened, 214 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:13,000 and they were convinced that some of this had occurred, it's not all, actually. 215 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,000 What are your personal feelings, Mr. Schmidt, about this? 216 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:20,000 Have you had a chance to calm down, to ask me, you know? 217 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:30,000 I already have them so far, but I'd say there is such a thing as how it's based on your, or a machine from our space, it's based on different countries. 218 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,000 You feel it might be one of the two? 219 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,000 Yes. 220 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:38,000 You didn't notice anything affluent about them other than they might have been just, yes. 221 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:41,000 Would you and Dave, what race would you say they were after this? 222 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:43,000 German, you would have a German race. 223 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:50,000 Mr. Schmidt, we want to thank you very much for the opportunity of talking with you. 224 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:59,000 We appreciate very much. You're going to be very definitely interrogated by the various law enforcement bodies, 225 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,000 and there will be other news media after you. 226 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,000 We appreciate your chance to talk to you, to understand about this. 227 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,000 Do you have anything else that you'd like to say at this time? 228 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:10,000 No, I get that. 229 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:15,000 All right, thank you very, very much. 230 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,000 Mr. Lionhold O. Schmidt of Makersfield, California. 231 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:24,000 This is Gene Larson, Newspaper KPSW in Tarni, Nebraska.